Birmajer, whose brother Rabbi Eduardo (Reuben) Birmajer was murdered in a Palestinian stabbing attack at Jerusalem’s Jaffa Gate last week, said his sibling’s killers were no different from the Nazis who had murdered his grandfather’s family in Europe.

Birmajer made his comments at a memorial service for his brother, held at the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires and attended by diplomats and leaders of the country’s Jewish community.

At the ceremony, Birmajer commented on his filial relationship. “You weren’t the brother of a famous author. Instead, I’ve always said, I’m the brother of a rabbi.”

He went on: “There’s no territorial conflict or political problem. We haven’t done anything bad in the land of Israel. To the contrary, we built the best state in the world. Israel is the most extraordinary state in the world, the most humane, educated, liberal state, the state which has the most respect for its minorities. [Israel] is the best thing that happened in the 20th century.”

He added that the hatred directed at Israel by Palestinian terrorists stems from the values Israel upholds and embodies, which are at absolute odds with those of Islamist extremists.